Found and Whole
by MaverickSawyer
Summary: Six months have passed since Sabine began search for Ezra Bridger. Now, pursuing an increasingly promising set of leads, she and Ahsoka head into the fringes of charted space in the outermost reaches of the Outer Rim, deep into Wild Space...
1. The Hunt

Chapter 1: The Hunt

 _Unnamed colony world, on the border of Wild Space_

 _Six months after Epilogue scenes..._

Sabine Wren approached the local tavern shortly before local noon. There was no name to be seen. _Fitting, really, as it's the only tavern in this colony_. Sabine looked around her, taking in the colony. A few clusters of prefab plasteel buildings around a ferrocrete slab passed for the spaceport, and the few buildings that made up the town were set to the west of the spaceport. _And to think, a decade ago I thought Lothal was the ass end of nowhere. I can only imagine what I would have thought of a place like this._ Turning back to the tavern, Sabine took a deep breath and walked to the doors.

There was a turning of heads as she pushed through the swinging doors and promptly took a seat at the bar. The few patrons present took one look at the young Mandalorian and her armor and decided to leave her alone. The barkeep, however, stopped polishing the bartop and walked over to her. "What can I getcha?"

Sabine pulled a few coins from a belt pouch and tossed them on the bar. "I'll take two shots of Corellian whiskey. Top shelf stuff." The barkeep looked at the coins on the bar for a long moment. Sabine sighed and tossed one more onto the bar, and the barkeep ducked into the back room.

Sabine took the moment to pull a battered holodisk from her bag and tossed it onto the bar next to her. It immediately powered up and displayed a holo of her and Ezra. The holo was close to six years past at this point, but she still remembered the moment like it was yesterday. She and Ezra, still giddy over their stunning success of their raid on Gar Saxon's Star Destroyer as it hovered near Sundari, had convinced Chopper to take a holo to celebrate. The holo showed the two, arms slung over each other's shoulders, helmets tucked under their free arms, laughing at a joke of Ezra's told just moments before. Truth be told, it was still one of Sabine's happiest memories of her entire life. After Ezra's abrupt liberation of Lothal and his disappearance with the 7th Fleet, Sabine had started carrying the holo with her everywhere, to remind her of the better times when things were rough. The battered and worn casing of the disk was evidence that the last few years had been hard on Sabine.

The barkeep returned with a bottle of Whyren's Reserve and held it up. Sabine nodded once and tossed yet another coin on the bartop as a token of appreciation. He nodded once to her, and once to the holo. "Someone you knew well, I take it?"

Sabine sighed again. "Yeah, good friend. Today's his birthday. He's turning... 24? Yeah, 24."

The barkeep raised an eyebrow. "So, he's still alive? Usually, this kinda thing is for the dead."

Sabine shrugged and accepted the shot glass he offered her, then put the second one next to the holo. "He's out there somewhere. I'm sure of that. Ezra's hard to kill. Trust me."

"So, he's missing."

"Yep." Sabine took a sip of the whiskey and nodded. "Okay, I can see why that's so highly prized. Good stuff."

Lacking any better entertainment, the barkeep leaned on the bar and eyed Sabine. "How long has he been missing?"

"About 5 and a half years at this point. Same day the 7th Fleet vanished."

"Heard about that, actually. Hell of a thing. Whoda thunk that a buncha purrgils would just turn up and abduct an entire fleet?"

"You had to be there." Sabine chuckled over the glass. "But yeah, that was a hell of a thing." She knocked back half of the contents of the glass.

"So, was your friend there taken by the Imps just before the purrgils came?"

"Something like that." Sabine moved to finish her drink.

"Huh. Funny you should bring up the 7th Fleet..."

Sabine paused, set her drink down, and looked the barkeep straight in the eye. "How so."

The barkeep noted the sudden, icy change in her tone and realized that he'd hit a nerve. "Uhm... Bout two-ish years back. The local freighter captain comes in here, looking like he'd seen a ghost."

Sabine dropped a few coins on the bartop. "Go on."

The barkeep took a deep breath before continuing. "He said that right after he emerged from hyper, a battered _Arquitens_ -class frigate pops outta hyper almost right on top of him. I mean, we're way out in the middle of nowhere, and we're not the type to pick sides in someone else's wars, ya dig?"

Sabine nodded.

"Anyhow, the captain of the frigate comms the freighter and asks for, of all things, the latest galactic news. Freighter captain obliges and sends him every datachip he has onboard with news that could be of interest. Then, the frigate just turns around and punches outta here, same way he came in. No thanks, no money, nuthin. Just _poof_ , gone. Damnedest thing."

Sabine rolled her eyes. "So, how exactly does this tie into the 7th Fleet?"

"Because the frigate was squawking transponder and IFF codes that were 'bout three years outta date... and they were from the 7th Fleet."

Sabine willed herself to stay calm and collected. "Did your noble freighter captain happen to catch a departure vector trace?"

"Matter of fact, he did. We didn't believe him, so we checked the flight recorders. He didn't lie about any of it. I kept a copy of those flight recorder logs. I'll sell 'em to you... for the right price."

Sabine threw a few high-denomination coins on the bartop. "I'll give you that now, you give me the data. If it leads to the 7th, I'll come back and give you twice what I've just given you. If it doesn't..." Sabine let her left hand slide to her pistol holster.

The barkeep gulped and nodded. "Lemme go get that datachip for ya." He disappeared back into the rear room, clearly shaken.

Sabine turned back to the holo on the bar, picked up her shot, and polished it off. "You do that."

A few moments later, the barkeep returned and handed Sabine the datachip. "Here. Hope this has what you need."

Sabine slotted the chip into her datapad and quickly skimmed through it. As she watched the footage of the frigate, she noted the extensive repairs that had been performed on the bow and engine nacelles. _That sure looks like a purrgil or three decided to play "toss the ship" with that frigate._

The barkeep noted her furrowed brows. "See, told ya it was weird."

Sabine skipped ahead and watched the frigate disappear into hyperspace, then nodded once. "Yeah. But this is exactly the break I needed." She copied the data on the chip to the pad's internal memory, then handed back the datachip. "Thanks for that... and the drinks."

"Sure thing."

Sabine stowed her datapad and looked at the holo once more. _Hang on, Ezra. I'm coming for you_. She picked up the holodisk, tucked it back into its pouch on her belt, knocked back the second shot glass, and walked out the door. She slipped her helmet on and activated the integrated comlink. "Hey, Ahsoka, I'm headed back to the ship. I've got something to show you when you get back."

Her travel companion replied almost immediately. _"You get a lead?"_

"Better. I've got a hyperspace track... and it intersects the track from Lothal."

 _"Copy that. I'll be back at the ship in a few minutes."_

-.-.-

Sabine looked up as Ahsoka walked through the hatch of the T-6 shuttle she and Sabine were using to hunt for Ezra. "Hey, got a minute?"

Ahsoka closed the hatch behind her. "Let me stow the fresh produce first, Sabine."

Sabine left her seat and walked over to Ahsoka. "Oh, nice. What's this?" She picked a fruit out of the basket the Jedi carried.

"Don't know, but the local human children seemed to enjoy them, so you'll probably like it." The Togruta winked at Sabine.

"Hey!"

"What? It's true."

"I'm not a kid."

"Sure act like it sometimes."

Sabine sighed and pulled a knife from her boot top. "Whatever." She began to slice the fruit, putting the slices into a bowl that she put atop the table she'd been sitting at. "So, I ran the data I got past the records from Lothal's defense network. We've got a solid match on an _Arquitens_ -class frigate... the _Reliant_. Assigned to the 7th Fleet, and was abducted by two purrgil during the liberation. Damage sustained during the liberation matches the repairs to the hull noted in the flight data recorder logs... and it's still running the old, pre-Scarif transponder encoding." She sat down and snagged a piece of fruit. "I think we've got us a winner." Sabine grinned and began to munch on the fruit.

Ahsoka sat down and looked at the datapad Sabine had been working on. "I remember the _Reliant_. She was in a task force I led during the closing months of the Clone Wars." She flipped through the data. "Drive signatures match, allowing for reasonable margins for repairs... Hull markings and superficial scarring line up... Yeah, that's the same ship. So, where'd it come from... and where'd it go?"

Sabine powered up the holoprojector in the ceiling, and a local starmap filled the space above the table. "So, we've got the green trace based on the probability for the track from Lothal." As she spoke, the path in question appeared, snaking its way through the edge of known space, through the scouted areas just beyond the Outer Rim, before fading out in the reaches of Wild Space. "Now, cross reference that against both the star maps we got from that hyperspace scout a few weeks back, and the new probability track from our ghost ship, and..."

Several dozen new stars appeared in the map, and a blue path snaked from the current system out into Wild Space, barely overlapping the green one.

Ahsoka leaned in and looked at the overlap. "There's only three systems."

Sabine grinned. "Nope, only one. One of the three stars is a blue supergiant, ready to go nova, and the other is a neutron star-red giant binary. Neither system is conducive to purrgil. Ergo, the only possible point of interest is this system." Sabine called up the records from the hyperspace scout. "Six terrestrial bodies, three gas giants, two ice giants. Assorted dwarf planets... and one robust asteroid belt chock full of clouzon-36 gas."

"So? What's so important about the clouzon-36 gas?"

"Purrgils need the stuff to live and jump to hyperspace. And think about just how hard they had to have been working to yank an ISD or three with them. That'd be like, I dunno, me carrying you over my shoulder while running a foot race. I'd be exhausted afterwards."

Ahsoka studied the data. "One habitable planet near the asteroid belt... Think that's where our cosmozoan friends dumped the fleet?"

"I'd put money on it."

"Okay. You've got me convinced. Let's get going." Ahsoka started to get up.

"Wait." Sabine held out her hand, stopping her companion.

"What's wrong, Sabine?"

Sabine chewed on her lower lip for a moment. "I'm... I wonder if we're flying into a trap."

"What, like the 7th Fleet is waiting for us?"

"I wouldn't put it past Thrawn."

"I doubt it. They would have to know what's going on in the galaxy at large by now. If even a remote backwater world like this has heard that the Emperor is dead, surely Thrawn will have heard." Ahsoka sat back down. "What's really wrong, Sabine?"

Sabine curled up into a ball on her seat, knees beneath her chin. "I guess... I'm afraid of what we'll find when we arrive. What if he's a prisoner of Thrawn, and he was taken with them and they left no clues as to where they've gone? Or he left to find his way home, and I missed him? Maybe I've been wrong this whole time, and he's been dead all these years?" Sabine shivered. "Or what if he... no, forget it."

"Go on, Sabine, get it out of your system." Ahsoka smiled gently. "I won't judge you for your fears."

Sabine sat quiet for a minute before finally replying, voice shaking. "I... I just... worry... that he... he won't be the same person I knew when he left." Sabine buried her face in her knees. "Stars, I'm acting like an idiot. I'm sorry, Ahsoka."

"Don't be sorry, Sabine. You're just nervous."

Sabine sighed. "Yeah. Yeah I am. Let's just go and see what we find."

"Okay." Ahsoka stood up and headed to the cockpit.

Sabine remained curled up on the seat, alone with the thoughts she had hesitated to share with Ahsoka... _What if, over this time, we've become so different that the friendship, the bond between us forged in battles and late-night discussions atop the_ Ghost _and pranks on Zeb and the chaos of missions gone horribly wrong and the quiet conversations we would have as we traveled in hyperspace..._

 _What if that's gone?_

Sabine shuddered and headed to the refresher to splash some cold water on her face. _Nothing to be done about that now, Sabine. Focus on the mission._

-.-.-


	2. Proximity Alarm

**Chapter 2: Proximity Alarm**

Twelve hours (and a much needed nap and sonic shower) later, Sabine settled into the copilot's seat of the T6 shuttle. "Okay, let's see what's waiting for us."

Ahsoka smiled and pushed the hyperdrive motivators forward, dropping the shuttle out of hyperspace. "Aaand WHOA!"

Sabine looked up to see the gutted remains of an _Imperial-I_ -class Star Destroyer floating a few kilometers away. She let out a low whistle of respect. "Now that's something you don't see every day, and I've seen some pretty badly trashed ISDs before."

"Seen, or made?"

"Well, both, really. But this is something else. This looks almost... methodical. Calculated." Sabine studied the wreck for several seconds before grabbing her datapad. "Get us closer... I think I know what's going on here."

Ahsoka eased the shuttle closer to the ruined ship, taking in the destruction. "Look, every single weapon mount, shield projector, sensor cluster... they're all gone."

Sabine nodded as a theory came together in her head. "Same with tractor beam projectors, maneuvering thrusters, and pretty much every other hard-to-replace component on the ship, I bet."

"Why?"

"Simple. They needed the parts to repair the other ships. Aha!" Sabine handed Ahsoka the datapad. "Look... the forward port quarter of the bow is missing... credits to cupcakes they cut it off to repair the _Chimaera_ 's hull damage by just replacing the entire superstructure. It's still a major feat of engineering, but it'd be easier than simply rebuilding the section from scratch."

Ahsoka stared in disbelief. "So... we've found the 7th Fleet?"

"At least where they had been for a while." Sabine started fiddling with a bit of gear on her belt. "C'mon, the hulk can wait... Ezra's got to be on a planet near here."

Ahsoka shrugged and steered the shuttle towards the nearby planet, watching Sabine get increasingly agitated as they approached. "Sabine... relax. You look like you're getting ready for a first date."

Sabine turned to Ahsoka, astonishment written on her face. "Wait, what? Since when have you known anything about dating?"

Ahsoka laughed loudly for several seconds. "Sabine... just because I was a Jedi Padawan doesn't mean that I still hold to all the tenets of the Code. I mean, it's not like you hold true to all the core teachings of Mandalorian culture, do you?"

Sabine sighed and settled into her seat, still fiddling with one of her belt pouches. "Ahsoka, you never cease to surprise me."

Ahsoka grinned and guided the shuttle into orbit. "So, where do you think we should start our search?"

Sabine looked out the windows of the cockpit and pointed. "There."

Ahsoka follwed Sabine's gesture and spotted a gray, rectangular feature that was clearly not natural cut into the forests of the world below. "Yeah, probably a good bet. So, are you going to wait for the shuttle to land this time?"

"Of course not." Sabine practically skipped back to the rear of the shuttle to retrieve her jetpack. "I'm a Mandalorian, not a passenger." Expertly slinging her jetpack onto her back, Sabine began to whistle a folk song she had become fond of during her stay on Lothal. A quick pat of the pouches, holsters, and cansiters that adorned her armor followed as the shuttle descended into the upper fringes of the atmosphere, the thin air singing past the hull in a shrill cry. "ETA?"

"I'll be over the base in about a minute. You ready?"

Sabine grabbed her helmet and slid it on as she entered the airlock, the HUD lighting up with the data she needed to make the jump. "Spectre 5, ready to drop."

The air passing over the hull of the shuttle had shifted to a rumble, and Sabine slapped the airlock cycle control. Moments later, the inner hatch rolled shut, then the outer one slid back. "Ready."

Ahsoka slowed the shuttle to a speed that would allow Sabine to clear the engine housings, then toggled the comlink. "Good hunting, Sabine. May the Force be with you."

-.-.-

" _Good hunting, Sabine. May the Force be with you_."

Sabine grinned and sprinted out the airlock door with a whoop, tucking into a brief tumble as the shuttle pulled away, then assumed a spread-eagle freefall position as she scouted the base nearly five kilometers below. _Hmmm. Definitely Imperial. Too orderly to be anything else. So, that means that the headquarters will be... there._

Even as she identified the building, long-ingrained muscle memory steered her fall towards her destination. "Ahsoka, landing field, just inside the northwest corner. See it?"

" _Yes. I'll meet you there when you're ready_."

"Cool. See you in a bit." Sabine noted that she was directly over the parade ground just outside the headquarters building and shifted to a heads-down dive. Her HUD's altimeter wound down like a slot machine as she hurtled downwards, grinning as adrenaline flooded her system. Another whoop escaped as she fell through two kilometers.

" _Glad to see someone's having fun. Just try not to splatter yourself on the parade grounds, please_."

Sabine shook her head. Apparently, I left my helmet mic on voice recognition again. Stupid, rookie mistake. "C'mon... where's the fun in that, Ahsoka? Relax. This isn't my first skydive insertion." Putting action to words, Sabine tumbled briefly, then stabilized feet first and lit her jet pack, slowing her headlong rush just in time to land smoothly in a three-point landing. "See? You worry too much. Perfect landing."

" _Uh-huh_."

"Whatever. I'm going into the HQ, see what I can find."

" _Alright. Keep in touc_ h."

"Always." Sabine tapped a few controls on her left vambrace, and her helmet mic switched off. "Now, let's see what Thrawn left us for clues."

-.-.-

The doors to the headquarters building hadn't been locked at all, which had set Sabine's well-honed combat instincts on edge. _After all, why leave an open door except to serve as bait to lure in the unwary?_ But no traps await Sabine's investigations. Not even an active security sensor to be found, which was even more disconcerting. Thus, it was with a great deal of caution that Sabine poked a sensor probe into the room that had to be Thrawn's office. Finally, the probe picked up several electronic signatures, and Sabine let out a relieved sigh. _Found the trap. Now, what is the trap?_ She looked at the readouts and pondered, then rolled her eyes and kicked the door open. To her surprise, no autoturrets dropped from the ceiling, no gas escaped from the vents, no bombs went off. Instead, a holoprojector activated and began to play a message.

Grand Admiral Thrawn stood at attention, in full dress uniform. After a brief pause, he began to speak. " _I am sure that you know who I am, and have come seeking the 7th Fleet. I regret to inform you that we have since moved on to a new theatre of operations... and to new missions."_ Thrawn paused, as if to gather his thoughts. " _I recently restored contact with the galaxy at large, and have been... less than impressed at the path the Empire has been taking. As such, I have opted to do what many others would consider unthinkable, even treasonous. I am taking the 7th Fleet deep into the Unknown Regions to establish a foothold, to preserve the Empire against what I feel is an inevitable demise at the hands of the Rebellion. Yes, I realize that this will no doubt make me an enemy of the very Empire I am attempting to save. But the Emperor is... deluded. He places far too much faith in massive battlestations and starships, neglecting the very real power of the soldiers and sailors who man those machines. He treats them as expendable pawns on a galactic-scale game of dejarik. I cannot, and will not, abide such treatment of those under my command. Not anymore, after these last few years we've spent out here, cut off from the galaxy at large, from an Empire that has, apparently, not seen fit to even perform the most cursory search for us._ " Thrawn's image had begun to pace during his monologue, but now he turned to face the recorder, and by extension, the viewer of the message. " _As such, I am hereby taking my command into the unknown, to protect the ideals of the Empire that could have been... and to protect the galaxy at large from threats they may not yet realize exist, but are nonetheless very real... and very dangerous indeed. You may pursue me if you wish, even join me in my efforts. But if you intend to bring me to Coruscant to face the Emperor... May the Force have mercy upon your soul, for I most certainly shall not._

 _"Grand Admiral Thrawn, out."_

Sabine shivered as the holo winked out. "Well, that's about as textbook of a definition of a _Ba'slan shev'la_ as I've ever seen. Good riddance, Thrawn. But just keep in mind... I won't forget what you and your friends did to my family... and my friends. You had better run far and fast, Thrawn... because I've still got an axe to grind with you, you blue-skinned _chakaar_." She walked over to the terminal next to the projector and shoved a dataspike into it. Seconds later, her vambrace computer pinged an unhappy note to announce the results of the search the spike had run: No mention of Ezra or Jedi in the files contained within. " _Haar'chak_. Well, might as well start a methodical search, then." She removed the dataspike from the terminal and inserted it into the one on Thrawn's desk, which chimed happily as it set to work. Knowing that the dataspike could take several hours to sort through the entire datanet for information, Sabine looked out the window in the office and took in the view of the now-deserted base. There was an eerie quality to it, seeing the contrast of the might she knew the Empire could have mustered a few years ago in conflict with the power of the forest... and losing.

Turning from the room, she donned her helmet again and opened a channel to Ahsoka. "Fulcrum, this is Spectre 5. No dice on our mutual friend... but I did find a lead on Thrawn and the 7th. He's run for the Unknown Regions with his tail between his legs."

Ahsoka's laugh filtered through the comlink. " _Somehow, I doubt that he's running away like a frightened tooka, Sabine_."

"True, but one can hope, right?"

" _Ever the optimist, aren't you?_ "

"Pffft. Anyways, I left a dataspike in the network. I'm going to head back to you while the spike sorts through the data the Imps left behind to see if there's anything useful."

" _Copy that. See you soon_."

Sabine walked out of the headquarters and took off her helmet, practicing a breathing exercise that Ezra had taught her years before. As she did so, she felt the stress and frustration fade away, leaving her calm and collected. _I need to do that more often... This feels good_. She pulled out her datapad and moved to turn it on, only to pause as she spotted her reflection in the screen. Though she had cropped her hair fairly short before her departure from Lothal on the first of several excursions looking for Ezra some six months prior, she hadn't been keeping the shorter hairstyle. Instead, she had let it grow back out, and it was now nearing 7 cm, of which the 2 cm from the tips up was a now-fading purple. The rest was her natural black hair color. Officially, she hadn't done anything with it due to the frequency of trips off-world and the somewhat austere nature of Ahsoka's shuttle... but privately, she was letting it grow out because she knew Ezra had liked it longer, and as she felt she was getting much closer to finding him, she wanted to surprise him with the new, but still somewhat familiar, style.

As she thought of Ezra again, she tucked the datapad away and pulled out the holodisk, displaying the holo of her and Ezra. She smiled sadly, then tucked the disk back away, then prepared to put on her helmet again. "Alright, Ezra... Where are you?"

Unexpectedly, a familiar and deeply missed voice came from behind her. "I'm right here, Sabine."

-.-.-

Author's note: Couple of Mando'a phrases in there... Translations below.

 _Ba'slan shev'la_ \- Literally: "Strategic disappearance". In context, it means something more along the lines of "run like hell".

 _chakaar_ \- Literally: "Grave robber". In context, it's more of a generic term of abuse. Sabine is using it in a very... vulgar fashion, shall we say. If Hera knew the exact choice of context, she'd have Sabine scrubbing carbon scoring off the hull for a month. ^_^

 _Haar'chak_ \- "Damn it."


	3. Reunion

**Chapter 3: Reunion**

Slowly, Sabine turned around to find Ezra standing there, smiling gently at her. She blinked several times, not trusting her eyes. Ezra still stood there, quietly waiting. Her helmet slipped from her hand, and Sabine slowly walked over to him. A quick poke confirmed that he was really there, and Sabine promptly wrapped Ezra into a crushing hug. "I've missed you so much, _ori'vod_."

Ezra returned the hug. "I've missed you too, Sabine."

Several long moments passed, neither wishing to let go of the other. However, Sabine's helmet comlink interrupted. " _Spectre 5, this is Fulcrum. Come in, Spectre 5._ "

Ezra let go of Sabine and reached out with the Force to pick up her helmet. "Sounds like Ahsoka."

Sabine wiped her face, trying to hide the tears of joy she'd shed. "Yeah, it is. She's been helping me search for you." As Ezra used the Force to bring her helmet over, she noticed he had tear streaks on his face as well. Well, now I don't feel quite so bad. "And you remembered not to scratch up my helmet." She grinned as she took the helmet and slipped it on.

"Yeah, I think that bruise you gave me last time is still healing." Ezra smiled back.

"Oh, quit whining. Go ahead, Fulcrum."

" _Took you long enough to respond. Are you okay_?"

"Never better. Why?"

" _You sound like you've been crying_."

"I was. I'm okay now."

There was a long pause before Ahsoka replied. " _Did you... find something?_ "

"Better. I found someone... or more accurately, someone found me. Ezra's here. Told you he was alive." Sabine's grin grew beneath the helmet. "We're headed back to you."

" _That's... Wow. Is Ezra okay?_ "

"I didn't do anything to him, if that's what you're asking. Otherwise... He seems to be okay. I guess I'll find out more soon enough."

" _That's good to hear. Although... you may want to ask him about why there's a flyable_ Sentinel _-class shuttle in a hangar here, loaded with gear_."

"Right. I'll call you back" Sabine turned to face Ezra and yanked off her helmet. "You. Explain. NOW."

Ezra sighed. "Ahsoka found the shuttle, didn't she."

"Still waiting for an explanation as to why I had to come all the way out here to the ass end of the galaxy to find you when you had a ship this _WHOLE KRIFFING TIME_."

Ezra looked at the ground, sheepish. "Because Thrawn made sure to wipe the navicomputer of every last byte of data. And there's no data on the local datanet. I spent six weeks sifting through it all, looking to see if somewhere, anywhere, they'd stashed a backup copy. I even raided Thrawn's office to see if there was a datacard hidden anywhere." He looked back up, locking eyes with Sabine. "Believe me, if I had found anything, I would have made the trip home as soon as I could. But I think Thrawn took a perverse pleasure in stranding me here with a fully functional ship... just without any means of using it to go anywhere outside the system."

As Ezra explained, Sabine deflated as she felt her anger fade away into sympathy. "That does seem to be Thrawn's style, doesn't it."

Ezra hugged Sabine again. "Yep. Now, the big question is... do you want me to ride back with you in Ahsoka's shuttle, or do you want to upload enough data to the _Sentine_ l to get us back to Lothal?"

Sabine eased out of the hug, put a hand on Ezra's shoulder, and stared him in the eyes. "Upload. I've actually got a use for that shuttle."

Ezra laughed and they started walking. "What for, a canvas?"

"No, something more mundane than that... The Lothal Security Corps needs something like that for hauling larger amounts of supplies and personnel around."

"Wait... Lothal Security Corps? I take it that you have a hand in that."

Sabine chuckled. "More like two arms and a leg. I've spent much of my time since you left helping prepare Lothal for a retaliatory strike from the Empire, aside from a few 'vacations' to go cause havoc for Imperial forces in nearby sectors. I do have a reputation to uphold, after all."

"So... did they ever try to retake Lothal?"

"Not to the extent we feared. They kinda took the hint after the third _Raider_ -class Corvette went MIA shortly after entering the Lothal system." Sabine smiled smugly. "It's a lot cheaper to capture those and repurpose them than to go and buy some CR90s."

"Always the frugal one, aren't you."

"What can I say? Hera's better habits did eventually rub off on me."

"Heh."

"Yeah. Oh, you'll probably be happy to hear this... The Emperor is dead."

Ezra froze. "Dead? Now that's some good news. How's the Empire faring?"

"Poorly. Destroying an entire planet tends to make a lot of people very angry, and with the Emperor dead, they've lost a lot of their cohesion."

Ezra stopped dead in his tracks. "They what?"

Sabine turned to face Ezra, pain etched on her face. "Alderaan... it's... it's gone. They blew it up almost a year after you left."

Ezra, clearly horrified by the news, sank to the ground. "How... I didn't think there was that much firepower in the entire Imperial Navy. How could they blow up an entire planet?"

Sabine sat down next to Ezra and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "They made a weapon the size of a small moon, powered by kyber crystals. The Death Star, they called it. One shot of its main weapon, and Alderaan was just... gone. 5 billion lives gone, just like that... just to make an example of what the Empire would do to other worlds who resisted the reign of the Emperor." She bit her lip and looked at Ezra. "I suspect you may know when that happened."

Ezra's gaze grew distant as he searched his memories. "So that's what that was. There was this... I can't put it into words, Sabine, but the Force just... I guess the best way to describe it would be a scream of absolute agony. I couldn't figure out what could possibly have caused that." He shivered. "Now I almost wish I didn't know. How many other worlds got destroyed?"

"Thankfully, none. Jedha City got hit by a low-yield blast during testing, and they used it on their archives on Scarif to try and keep a Rebel strike team from making off with the plans... but no other planets were destroyed."

"Wait... you guys did _what_?"

"Well, not exactly us us, but... Yeah. I was there for the Scarif raid. Hera flew the _Ghost_ as part of the top cover operation to buy the strike team time. I copiloted, Zeb, Kallus, and Rex ran the guns... But we almost didn't make it out of that one. Of all the ops we ran over the years... that was the closest call. We barely made it into hyperspace from all the damage we took. Combined with the evacuation of the Massassi Base a few days later, and... well, you'll see when we get back, but yeah. It was a rough few days."

Ezra nodded, then began to stand. "So, I take it that, since you're here and the Empire is crumbling, the Rebellion killed that station?"

Sabine bounced to her feet and started walking towards the landing area again."Yeah. That was a hell of a mission. Most of the starfighter force we turned loose against it didn't make it back. Wedge was one of three survivors, out of an original strike package of 24 fighters."

Ezra winced. "Ouch."

"Yeah... we got our asses kicked a few times. Yavin, Hoth..."

"Hoth?"

"Frozen iceball we set up a base on. I went a few times to help rig their shield generators and defenses... but it made Krownest look downright tropical. Glad I wasn't stationed there for long... or at the end of the base's life."

"Meaning that the Empire found the base?"

"Found it and turned it into a steaming hole in a glacier in under 72 hours. Mighty fast work on their part, but when Vader's riding shotgun on the operation, it's kinda to be expected that they'd move fast. Lost some good people there, but most of the base got out safely."

"That's good. When was that?"

"Oh, about two years back. I missed that one, thankfully. I probably would have been out on the glacier trying to take out AT-ATs solo."

"And no doubt succeeding."

"There was nearly a dozen. I may be good, but even I know when the odds are against me." Sabine smiled at Ezra. "But thank you for your vote of confidence... and acknowledging who's the better fighter."

"Mmmm. Might have to test you on that when we get back. You've probably gotten a little rusty without your best sparring partner."

Sabine fixed Ezra with a skeptical look, but declined to rise to his bait. "ANYways. The big fight was Endor, almost a year ago. We got wind that the Empire had started construction on a new, improved Death Star. And the Emperor was going to be setting up a throne room on it. It was too juicy a target to pass up."

"Which screams 'trap'."

"Yep. So, of course we go in with pretty much everything we have, shipwise. And, surprisingly, we won, despite the superlaser on the Death Star being functional, a good chunk of the Imperial Navy being there on guard duty, and one of the biggest starships I've ever laid eyes on sitting in the center of that fleet."

"Oh?"

"The _Executor_. 19 kilometers of Imperial might. Not one of their better designs in terms of aesthetics, but still impressive. Has a sliiiiight vulnerability to A-wings smashing into their bridge." Sabine held her fingers a centimeter apart, then winked and held her hands apart at arms length. "Slight."

Ezra chuckled. "I hope that was an accidental discovery."

"It was. But it was totally worth it to see that thing go knifing into the Death Star and turning into a big jet of plasma."

"You were there?"

"Yep. Copilot again. Rex was part of the ground team to disable the planetary shield generator protecting the Death Star."

"How is he, by the way?"

"He's on Krownest, actually, with Clan Wren. My mother decided that we needed someone with serious experience to teach the next generation of Mandalorians, and since all the clones were derived from a Mandalorian..." She shrugged. "He's fitting right in."

"That's good. He deserves a happy retirement."

"Heh. He may be happy, but my younger cousins hate him. A more thorough task master would be hard to find. But, that's kinda to be expected."

"He's a clone. Fighting is what they were made for, right?"

Yep. Although he's the last surviving clone trooper, as far as we can tell. Wolffe went down on Hoth, taking the last of four AT-ST he killed with him. And Gregor... well..."

"I remember." Ezra wrapped an arm around Sabine's shoulders. "We've lost a lot of good people over the years, haven't we?"

"Yeah... yeah we have. But there's some new heroes to help fill the holes. They're almost as good as the people we've lost. Almost."

Ezra grinned at Sabine's prideful boast. "I have no doubt. But, that'll have to wait until we get back." They rounded a corner and arrived at the landing field. "Speaking of... Hey, Ahsoka!"

"Ezra!" Ahsoka waved in the direction of the hangar with the _Sentinel_ in it. "Care to explain?"

"Did you happen to check the navicomputer?"

"No. Why?"

Sabine sighed. "Because it's apparently wiped completely clean. I'm going to go to your shuttle and get some stuff... including enough nav data to get that _Sentinel_ back to Lothal. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes." Putting actions to words, Sabine bounded up the ramp to the shuttle's interior and hurried over to the flight deck. A few quick commands began copying the nav data onto a chip. Sabine looked at the time remaining, nodded in satisfaction, and headed over to her bunk. Lifting it, she accessed the storage compartment beneath the mattress and withdrew two duffle bags. One was clearly hers, splattered with a multitude of paint colors and currently partially unzipped. The other, however, was still zipped shut, and far cleaner: Ezra's, full of personal belongings he'd left behind on the _Ghost_ all those years before. She put the bunk back in its place, shoved a few last personal items into her own bag, and zipped it shut. Slinging the strap of her own duffle over her shoulder, she walked back to the navicomputer just in time for it to eject the now-full datachip. Sabine grabbed the chip, stored it in a belt pouch, and snagged Ezra's bag on her way to the door. "Hey, Ezra, I brought you some clothes and stuff. I wasn't sure what you'd have when we got here."

"Thanks. Can't wait to get rid of these old Imperial uniform bits. They're... not the most comfortable." He took the offered bag and started walking to the _Sentinel_. "So, got everything you need?"

Ahsoka chimed in as she boarded her shuttle. "Not yet. Let me give you some fresh fruits."

Sabine giggled as Ezra's face took on a wistful look. "Fresh fruit... now that's something I've sorely missed. Sure, ration packs will take care of all your nutritional needs, but..."

Sabine made a sound of disgust as they walked up to the _Sentinel_. "They're so... bland."

"Yeah." Ezra tapped the door control on the shuttle's main hatch, and stepped through the opening. "But at least they last a while."

Sabine stopped as she took in the hold of the shuttle. Crates, barrels and other assorted cargo containers filled the interior from floor to ceiling. "Wow. They left all this?"

"Not willingly. I, uhm... liberated it... during their stay."

Sabine quirked an eyebrow at Ezra. "I'm sure there's an interesting story behind that."

"Oh, boy, is there ever. Here, I took an inventory of it after the Imps left and I started stowing it on the shuttle." He handed Sabine a datapad tucked near the door.

"Inventory? Willingly?"

Ezra noted the skeptical tone in Sabine's voice and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I needed something to keep me busy..."

"And that lasted, what, a few hours?" Sabine glanced at the datapad, then raised her eyebrows in surprise as she realized just how much gear Ezra had packed into the shuttle. "Okay, I take that back. This would have been three or four day's work. What were you planning on doing with all this, fighting a war?"

Ezra leaned against a nearby crate as Ahsoka joined them, fruit basket tucked under her arm. "If needed. It's enough to keep a squad of fighters supplied and in the field for several months... or a company for a few days. I was planning on using this to fight to liberate Lothal again if needed... or to free another planet, if Lothal was still free. Glad to hear that it's not likely to be needed for either mission."

Ahsoka laughed. "You and what army?"

"Whoever I could find that was willing to fight." Ezra shrugged. "Worst case, it'd keep me and Sabine in food, powerpacks, and assorted explodey goodness for almost a year of chaos and mayhem."

Ahsoka looked to Sabine, worried about how she would take the surprising comment from Ezra.

Sabine was grinning like a tooka. "Ezra, you know me too well, even after we've been apart for so long." She scrolled through the datapad to the explosives, then gaped as she took in the enormous amount of ordinance listed. "Karabast, Ezra. You weren't kidding. That's nearly equal to the total amount I used in my time aboard the _Ghost_!"

"Yeah... Hope you have use for all that. Thrawn and company sure didn't. I mean, it was just sitting there, practically begging to be stolen..."

Sabine pitched the datapad in Ahsoka's general direction and wrapped Ezra in another crushing hug. "Do I ever. I'll show you when we get back to Lothal."

"Looking forward to it."

Ahsoka sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You know, you two scare me sometimes. Here, fruit. Take it."

Ezra levitated the basket over to a nearby crate and set it on top. "Thank you, Ahsoka."

"Sabine, you need anything else off the shuttle?"

"Nope. I'll see you back on Lothal. Thanks for the lift."

"Ahsoka, wait." Ezra walked over to the older Jedi. "Before you land on Lothal and uplink your nav data to the hypernet... please wipe this system from the ship's records."

"Why? I think the New Republic would want to know where this system is."

Ezra leaned in close to Ahsoka and whispered something that Sabine couldn't hear. Ahsoka's eyes narrowed, then widened in surprise and shock. "You're sure?"

"Positive."

Ahsoka nodded slowly. "That'd be a very good reason to keep this system a secret. I will do as you have asked."

"Thank you, Ahsoka."

Ahsoka smiled and departed the _Sentinel_ , leaving Sabine and Ezra alone. Ezra looked over at Sabine and smiled. "Well, one question for you, Sabine. Do you have any pressing need to get back to Lothal?"

Sabine fixed Ezra with a skeptical look. "Why?"

"Because I want to show you something tonight. It's... well, I can't describe it, but I think you'll love it."

Sabine pondered for a moment, then nodded. "Sure. You've got me curious now. And if it's anything, y'know..."

"I promise I'm not up to anything, Sabine."

"Okay. How long until nightfall?"

"We've got about 3 hours or so."

"So, plenty of time for you to shower and change... and get rid of that scraggly beard."

Ezra ran his hand along his jaw. "Sorry about that, by the way... The last shaver I had stashed away died about four months back. I've been using a sharpened bit of plasteel ever since to keep the length down."

Sabine gave Ezra a playful shove towards the shuttle's refresher. "Well, you're in luck. I packed yours in that duffle. Now go. I'll wait here."

Ezra grinned as he picked up his duffle and headed into the 'fresher.

-.-.-

A/N: Hey, gang. Sorry about the delay, but I had some issues getting this chapter to feel right, and the last few months have been somewhat hectic. Also, the next few months are also going to be somewhat crazy, what with me FINALLY finishing my college degree, taking my second and final licensing test set, and (hopefully!) getting a job in my intended industry. That's probably going to require a move to god only knows where, but it'll mean that I'll actually have, y'know, two days a week off to dedicate some serious time to writing my growing collection of stories I'm working on. One for Pacific Rim, one for Star Wars proper, this one, and now I'm throwing an Ace Combat 7 fic into the fray as well, since that game turned around and bit me HARD in the writing bone. (Just what I needed, muse. Can you freaking focus on one fandom at a time, PLEASE?!)

Anyways, wanted to address some of the comments as well.

To the anonymous reviewer: Sorry, no Yuzhaan Vong (i'm not sure I spelled that right, but y'all know who I mean.) There will be some future interaction with both the Unknown Region and -REDACTED-, though, but it's going to be a while yet. Gotta get Ezra home and settled in a bit first, let him catch up with what he's missed.

LongLiveTheEmperor: I hope this is satisfactory. ;)

Nightwing2013: I'll kinda fill in the search through some comments from Sabine and Ahsoka later, but for now, I wanted to get Ezra back on his feet at home on Lothal. Besides it's mostly boring, uninteresting research work, with the occasional "road trip" to check out promising leads.

TheLoneRebels 2.0: Coming from you, that's some damn fine praise. :D

Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this chapter!


	4. Scars

**Chapter 4: Scars**

Ezra had decided, shortly after finding out that the _Sentinel_ had been fitted with a fully plumbed refresher, that he would save the water for when a rescue arrived. Sabine's abrupt (and, if he was honest with himself, quite stylish) arrival had caught him off guard far from the shuttle. Now, as he savored the flow of hot water over his body for the first time in over a year, he regretted having not found a way to recharge the system so he could use it more frequently. _Well, what's done is done. No sense dwelling on the past_. He shut off the water and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel as he did so. A few moments of drying off later, he looked at himself in the mirror. The short beard he had worn for months was now gone, although his hair was still longer than he would have liked, reaching nearly to his shoulders. Several new scars from various injures traced across his skin, including both the scar from Thrawn's blaster shot, and a trio of parallel roping scars stretching across his back from left shoulder to right waist, a gift from one of the local apex predators a few months after his arrival. As he dressed, he noticed that Sabine had thoughtfully packed one of his orange shirts on top of the stack of clothing inside. Quickly pulling it on, he started to fasten it, only to fall short part way up his ribcage as he couldn't pull it tight enough to close. "Hey, Sabine... You didn't alter my shirts, did you?" He slapped the door control and stepped out.

"Noooo... why?" She looked up to see Ezra's shirt partially closed. "I washed it once, when I put it in the bag. It can't have shrunk. Those shirts fit you quite well before."

"Uh-huh. But now it's too tight across the shoulders." He turned around and started to unfasten the shirt. "How long was this in storage?"

"Hera kept it on the _Ghost_ for a few months, but most of the rest of the time I had it on Lothal at my place. So I doubt Chopper or Zeb messed with it." She walked over to Ezra. "Hang on, let me... Huh. That's really odd."

"It's not been altered?"

"Not unless someone made a seamless change."

"Well, that's just great. I assume there's another shirt of some sort in here?"

"Uhm... Kinda? It's... Hera gave me one of Kanan's shirts. She said it was 'just in case'. Now I think I know what she meant."

Ezra pulled out the top in question. "I... Is it weird that this feels kinda wrong to wear this?"

"No... I'd feel weird if Hera gave me some of her clothes. Or my mother."

Ezra looked at the green shirt before sighing and slipping out of his orange shirt. "Well, it's better than an old Imperial uniform. I've had my fill of wearing those." He turned around, and Sabine gasped. "Wha-Oh. Right."

"Ezra... what happened?" She walked over and started to trace her fingers across the scars on Ezra's back before she realized what she was doing... and that Ezra has shivered slightly under her touch. "Sorry, I just-"

"No, it's okay, Sabine. I got ambushed by a local predator a few months after I got here. The Imperials found me and, miracle of miracles, decided to put me in the bacta tank rather than leave me to die." Ezra pulled on Kanan's old shirt, which fit quite well, much to Ezra's surprise. "And yes, I'll explain why... but not now. It's a long story and we'll need something to keep us company during the hyperspace trip home, right?"

"Yeah... I guess so. It is a several day trip." She looked at the deck. "Sorry about the whole touching thing. I just..."

"I understand." He turned around to face Sabine, who was still looking at the deck. "Seriously, Sabine, I understand. They're pretty nasty. Besides, what was that saying you told me, back after we rescued Kanan over Mustafar?"

"'Scars are like tattoos, but with better origin stories.'" Sabine smiled. "We certainly have a fair share of stories we carry with us, don't we?"

"That we do." Ezra pointed to the datapd with the inventory. "So, what'd you think?"

"I can't believe you managed to steal all this stuff! I mean, sure, you were the best of all of us at theft, but still... A whole R2 unit? How'd you pilfer that?"

"Oh, the droid? They left it behind. Something about not having all the right drivers. I figured you'd probably be able to make short work of whatever problems it had."

"I probably can." Sabine set the datapad down. "So, we've still got an hour or so to kill until nightfall, right?"

"About that, yeah. Why, got any ideas on how to kill the time?"

Sabine snagged a fruit from the basket Ahsoka had left and tossed it to Ezra. "I missed being able to just... sit and chat with you. Like we did on Atollon, atop the Ghost."

"Well, this shuttle's not quite the same, but..." Ezra grinned. "I think we'll make do."

Sabine smiled back and walked out of the shuttle with a spring in her step. _Stars, I've missed having him around. I don't know why, but... I'm not going to argue with that right now._ She turned to look at the shuttle, planning her route up... only to start floating. "What...?"

Ezra laughed as he used the Force to levitate Sabine onto the roof of the shuttle's cargo bay.

"Showoff." Sabine stuck her tongue out at Ezra, who laughed again as he floated up the fruit basket.

"That's not showing off."

"Oh? Then what is?"

Ezra leapt up to the top of the shuttle, performing a graceful front flip as he did so, and landed without a sound.

"Okay, yeah, that.. that's showing off." Sabine chuckled. "Certainly did that a lot better than some of your first attempts."

"And I'm sure you crashed a few times when learning how to use your jetpack."

"True." Sabine selected a fruit and started to cut it. "You'll like this one, Ezra. It's kinda tart."

"Nice." He sat down next to Sabine, accepted the offered slice, and bit into it. "Mmmmm..."

Sabine smiled and leaned back against the vertical S-foil of the shuttle and eyed the sunset on the horizon. "Okay, that's pretty."

"Right? That mix of your two favorite colors... Purple and orange."

"They are, huh? How do you figure that?"

"Well, they always keep showing up in your work." He gestured to her armor and her hair. "Though you seem to be favoring the purple quite a bit more these days."

Sabine's smile grew to a grin. "See, I knew all those art lessons would start to rub off eventually."

Ezra grinned back and leaned against the S-foil as well.

-.-.-

Ezra and Sabine enjoyed a few minutes of small talk as night started to fall before trailing off into silence. Sabine watched as Ezra began to grow uncomfortable about something. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Sorry, I just... I'm sure you've got a lot of questions for me that you want answered."

"Just one, actually."

"Some variation on 'Why?', I presume?"

Sabine sighed. "I know exactly why do you did what you did, Ezra, and I don't blame you for that. Force knows I'd be hard pressed to say I wouldn't have done something similar had our places been swapped. Although the whole 'space whales' bit is just classic you." She looked down for a moment before locking eyes with Ezra. "I just want to know why you chose that particular plan."

Ezra broke eye contact with Sabine and looked upwards at the stars. "Because, that plan was the one that caused the least amount of suffering overall. I knew it would hurt everyone I was close to, but... I had to balance that against the people of Lothal, and their futures. I knew that you guys would pull through and would be, if not totally fine, then at least you would be okay. If I put you guys first, even only one person on the team... The suffering would have been immensely worse. From what you've told me about what happened with the Rebellion after I left, I know now I made the right choice. But that's with the benefit of hindsight." His gaze came back to Sabine. "I wanted to tell you, Sabine, I really did. But you probably would have tried to stop me."

Sabine's face flickered with emotion briefly, and Ezra noted a surge in the Force, but out of respect for his longtime friend, he didn't pay any additional attention to it, a habit he had fallen into nearly a decade before during his tutelage under Kanan. It took Sabine a few more moments to actually respond. "Actually, I... probably would have tried to go with you. But... that would have broken Hera. Three of her family lost in a week? She would have been crushed."

"Another reason I didn't tell you, among others."

"Did you see the other options? In the Force?"

"Not in detail, but the general outcomes were visible. If you stopped me... we all died. The crew, the team, and all of Lothal would have been killed as an example. If you went with me... there were three outcomes. One, we made it out alive, but, as you mentioned, Hera would be devastated. Another, we managed to take out Thrawn and the Fleet, but it cost our lives."

"And the third?"

"I... I don't want to talk about it right now, Sabine. It was... bad."

Sabine wrapped an arm around Ezra's shoulders. "Okay. But if you ever do... I'm here. Alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Sabine." Ezra grinned. "See, I knew I could count on you."

Sabine laughed and playfully smacked Ezra's shoulder. "Di'kut. So, what exactly did you want to show me? Or is it not dark enough yet?"

"A few more minutes, but we're getting close." Ezra looked up at the darkening skies. "There's only one or two nights a year where this happens, with the planet's night side pointed the right direction and all three moons below the horizon."

"And that is, what, some sort of meteor shower? Because I've seen a few of those. Don't get me wrong, they're still fantastic to watch, but... Not really worth sticking around for."

"Nope, it's even better. You can see a huge swath of the galaxy. First time I saw this, I knew I was out in probably uncharted space, just because of how much of the galaxy I could see."

Sabine looked at Ezra, then up at the sky... and gasped at the sight of the galaxy laid out so that the faint traces of the arms were actually visible. "Whoa... you weren't kidding! I mean, I've seen the galaxy in the night sky before, but... it was always in the plane of the disc. And I knew that there were definitely arms on the galaxy, and that this planet is well above the disc. But actually _seeing_ it is something else entirely." She sprang to her feet, pulled out a folded up piece of flimsi from a belt pouch and a stylus from her armband canisters, and walked around to the back side of the vertical s-foil. "I _have_ to make a sketch of this."

-.-.-

A/N: Sorry about the extended hiatus, folks, but I've had some significant changes in my life since I last posted for this story. New job, moving halfway across the US, stuff like that. Hopefully I'll be able to post a little more frequently now that things are stabilizing.


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